The Great War
by Serafina
Summary: **Chapter 3 is posted**....The witches are becoming more powerful and it is up to Liseli and Riskia to stop them....but can they? Please R/R
1. I'm Dying

Cynthia bit her pencil eraser

Cynthia bit her pencil eraser. Sitting at her desk she stared at the history book and began underlining passages:

__

The 1700s were a puritanical era. The Church played an important role in the everyday life of most colonial families and mass was attended regularly, if only to stop people from thinking that one was a witch, which would immediately lead to burning on the stake or hanging.

"Wow, great time, sorry I missed it," Cynthia said sarcastically as she slammed the textbook closed and flung it to the floor. She leaned down to the floor and pressed the power button on her ancient computer. The screen flickered and the Windows logo came up.

Waiting for the AOL to sign on, her eyes flickered to the clock near her bed. It read 9:00 pm.

"Fantastic, 9 o'clock on Saturday night and I'm checking my e-mail; what a social life, I'm going to call Lisa"

Cynthia picked up the telephone and began dialing Lisa, her best friend.

"Yo, Lisa, it's me"

"Hi me, sup?"

"Not much, have any ideas, I am so bored and am not looking forward to another Saturday night date with my AP American History textbook."

"_Another_ Saturday night date with the textbook, wow, you're sad."

"Yeah, I love you too, seriously, got any ideas?"

"Actually, now that you mention it, yes, my brother's friend Zach told me about this club in New York, 10 min. away, Amber or something, in Soho."

"Meet you at your apartment in 10 min., lemme put on something more appropriate"

"Ciao"

"Adios"

~*~

Cynthia pushed the buzzer at Lisa's building just as the elevator opened and Lisa stepped out.

"Hey, I like your outfit," Cynthia said as she saw her friend's skin tight jeans and gold glittery top. She herself was wearing black leather pants and a black top with a broad stripe of silver across the front, contrasting with her pale skin from having staying inside working at an office all summer so far."Should we get a cab or walk?" Lisa asked as she checked her purse for money."Umm, cab, I can't walk that far in these shoes," Cynthia said, pointed to her platform shoes.

"Okay, split the fare 50/50?"

"As always, unless, of course, you want to pay"

"Haha, NO," Lisa said, giving Cynthia a playful slap and walking into the street to hail a cab.

~*~

Amber was a small club with loud music blaring out into the street. The front window had been painted over with orange and yellow spray paint onto which had been written "AMBER: 18 and over". Cynthia and Lisa walked up the bouncer, a solidly built college student with a tight black shirt standing near the door glaring at the multitudes of kids trying to get in with fake ID's. They handed him their ID's; he looked at the cards, looked at Cynthia and Lisa and waved them into the club.

Walking into the club, the were immediately assaulted by the music, ten times louder inside than outside. Blaring from the huge speakers set into the ceiling were various techno songs, not discernable from each other.

"All right," Cynthia said as she moved into the crowd on the dance floor, tugging Lisa by her wrist.

"What, I can't hear you, what did you say?" Lisa shouted.

That basically summed up the entire night, except the trip home.

~*~

At about 1 o'clock in the morning Lisa and Cynthia were heading home, both of them overtired and hungry. They were walking down the block when they spotted a Dwane Reade. Ducking inside they each got some water and chips to snack on in the cab home. Walking out into the street they tried to hail a cab, but as anyone who has ever tried to hail a cab at 1 in the morning in NYC, it is next to impossible. Anyway, Lisa and Cynthia were standing in the middle of the street when a empty cab drove by. Cynthia ran into the street waving her arms to get the drivers attention, but the driver just drove into Cynthia hitting her leg. Cynthia fell down, holding her leg which was bleeding.

"OWWWW, LISA, HELP ME !!!" Cynthia shouted, clutching her leg and rolling in the street.

Lisa ran over to her friend and pulled her to the sidewalk. Pouring the water she had just bought over her friend's leg she tried to calm Cynthia down, who, by this time, was crying hysterically. Lisa was panicked; she had not first aid experience except CPR and Cynthia wasn't unconcious. Looking around, Lisa spotted a small club at the end of the street. Ambrosia, proclaimed the small sign in the corner of the window. The lights in the club were nearly all off, except for a small flickering light in the corner of the window.

"Better than nothing," Lisa mumbled under her breath as she picked up Cynthia and carried her into the club.

~*~

The day began as any other, little did I know it would end as none other had so far in my long life. I am a vampire, born into my line unwillingly many years ago at the hands, or should I say, teeth, of Ather, my blood mother who named me Risika. I have not forgiven my blood mother, Ather, for killing me, but in my heart I am grateful for her changing me. I awoke at sunset and brought myself to Ambrosia, a small vampire club in the heart of NYC. I stay there most of the night, waiting until the witching hours to hunt and eat. I watch the vampires in the club, carefully noting who is gaining power and who is weak.

__

Jessica, hmmm, I need to keep my eye on that girl, Aubrey protects her but he is nothing.

Fala, weak, still smarting from the last defeat at the hands of a human, pitiful

Jager, ignore him, not a threat, powerful but doesn't like fighting; I laugh at that idea, a vampire not liking fighting, if he wasn't obviously so powerful I might think him afraid

My thoughts followed these lines for most of the night until two humans burst into through the door, obviously hysterical, obviously clueless about what they just walking into. One girl was nearly unconcious, her leg bleeding profusely.

__

How stupid of her, walking into a vampire club bleeding

Already a few vampires had began moving towards the bleeding girl, Cynthia her name is; the other girl gave her up willingly, thinking that the vampires were trying to help her. I hung back, I do not eat wounded prey, I am above that. The other girl, Lisa, looked frightened, some of the vampires, having lost out on the chance to feed on Cynthia were approaching her with obvious malicious intentions. I expected

Lisa to dart out the door and run, rather she reached into her purse and pulls out a small canister

__

Pepper spray, a joke, that will do nothing

However, I was intrigued, not many humans stand their ground when being attacked by a vampire, let alone many vampires. I walked over to the crowd.

"Leave this girl to me, I will deal with her," I shouted to the approaching group. They continued moving. I lashed out with my mind, striking one down. The rest fled, they were hungry but in no mood for a fight. I turned to the girl, expecting terror on her face; I saw curiosity instead.

"How did, what are, where am I, don't hurt…" Lisa babbles incoherently.

"Hush child, breathe deeply, it will be your last chance," I murmured soothingly and with that I pulled her head back and bit her throat. I intended to kill her, not change her, but she struggled, as all in our line do, and something told me to change her, told me that she will be strong. I followed my intuition.

~*~

I felt myself die, though I didn't realize it at the time. It felt like I was being thrown into a depthless chasm of blackness, a never-ending pit of evil. Strangely enough, I didn't feel myself resisting. It felt welcoming, as welcoming as an evil pit can feel. I realized I was damned now and my life was about to take a change I could never have imagined. What I didn't realize was that my life was over, it was my death that was about to change.

I felt warm liquid being forced down my throat, a voice murmured soothingly somewhere in the distance. The liquid taste strange, like no drink I have ever had before. I felt drunk after drinking it, yet it didn't feel like alcohol and no alcohol (that I know of) could have taken effect that quickly. I finish drinking and the cup is removed from my lips. I try to stand up but a hand pushes my back and the world goes black.

I feel myself lift from the evil chasm, but instead of floating to the light I see above, I merely hang. I float on the blackness, surrounded by it, unable to move up or down, not that there is much more down to go. I feel a voice in my ear, telling me to open my eyes. I comply.

Opening my eyes I see a white face in my view. Not white as in Caucasian, but white as in the color of snow. Only later do I realize that irony present, us creatures of darkness with our pale skin. The black eyes in my view blink and a voice, the same one that I heard while drinking says my name.

"Liseli"

It is no name I have ever heard before, but I can tell that it is mine. I stand up and immediately feel dizzy. I reach out for something to steady myself on and come in contact with a hand. I grab the proffered hand tightly, letting my fingers wrap around the wrist.

I rest for a few moments before I realized that something is very, horribly, drastically wrong. First, the wrist I am holding has no pulse, I feel with two fingers as I was taught in health, yet I feel nothing. Also, I realize I am not breathing.

I open my eyes and find myself staring into the same face I saw while asleep, or unconscious, I am not sure which.

"Thank you," I say gratefully as I take in my surroundings. The room I am in is nearly empty, save for a small cot in the corner; it is also very dark as there are no windows.

"Thank you, why are you thanking me?" the woman holding my hand responds.

"Umm, you saved my life. I was unconscious, you revived me, I could have died otherwise," I say, releasing the woman's wrist and reaching for my handbook, "how can I thank you? Money? I haven't much else to offer."

The woman grins, "I wouldn't be so quick in your thanks, Liseli, I didn't save your life, I killed you"

I simply stared at her.

"You are one of my kind, the youngest in the Silver line of vampires. You are officially dead, you notice you are not breathing, there is no need, you cannot suffocate as you are already dead. You have been reborn as a new being, a more powerful being, a hunter," the woman leads me out of the room into a larger room with a curtained bed and a vanity table, "look into that mirror and tell me what you see."

I looked carefully into the mirror and saw no one I recognized. A very faint, misty image was on the left of a more solid image. Me. I realized that I was looking at my reflection, but it was quite different than the one I had seen that morning.

My eyes were black, no color, and my skin looked deathly pale. Well, I thought to myself, I am dead, according to this woman. At that thought, the woman next to me began to speak.

"My name is Risika, I am your blood mother, I am a very powerful vampire, one of the most powerful there is. You should have this power too, if my intuition is correct, which it always is."

She said this all with no trace of modesty.

"Come now, child, you must feed or you shall waste away," Risika motioned with her hand and I followed her outside the small house.

"Follow me," she instructed; and with that we brought ourselves to a shadowed corner of NYC to feed.

A/N: This is a re-post of the same story with a few formatting changes. I hope it is easier to read now. Thanks to all my reviewers; you make this all worthwhile. Feel free to review or e-mail me (SmallSarah@aol.com). If you ask a question in your review I will respond as long as you also leave an e-mail address. -Serafina


	2. School Time

25 Years Later __

25 Years Later

Liseli lounged against the wall outside the vampire nightclub Las Noches, sipping something from a glass bottle. What was in the bottle was immaterial; vampires were immune to nearly all poisons. Risika had been right; Liseli was strong, very strong. Though she still stood no chance against the Big Three, Jager, Aubrey, and Risika, Liseli could hold her own against others such as Jessica and Fala.

For the first time in over a thousand years, a vampire meeting had been called. The witches were getting too strong. The Smoke line was experiencing a revival; over a hundred new members had been initiated within the past year, somehow the witches had discovered a new and more method of turning humans into witches. The vampire community was suffering, even Risika had been in a few close scrapes lately.

"Listen up," Risika shouted over the din. Nearly a thousand vampires lined the streets of New Mayhem; everyone was fighting, talking, or fighting.

"She said, LISTEN UP!" Aubrey shouted louder than Risika. Although they were sworn enemies Aubrey and Risika had called a temporary truce, or at least a halt of open hostilites, until the witches could be dealt with.

"You all know why you were called here today; the Smoke line must be halted," Risika said, "Some of you have been scraping by, avoiding conflicts with the witches, we demand that this stop."

"Vampires have always been, and will continue to be superior to witches. We must show them that we are not afraid to kill them," Aubrey said, his tattoos moving on his arms as he waved them in the air.

"The vampire community, united, is infinitely more powerful than the witches. It is time to tap into that power. The Smoke witches must be killed," Risika said, her golden hair flashing in the bright moonlight.

~*~

The vampires had learned that the witches were recruiting their new members from various high schools and colleges. A few vampires had been shadowing a few choice witches and had learned where they were planning on looking next for new members.

Rowenoak High School.

Rowenoak was located in Virginia, in the middle of a fairly large and busy city, just the type where a few students would not be missed when they entered the world of the witches and the vampires.

As the most powerful young vampire, it was Liseli's duty to keep an eye on this school, and to kill any witches that she saw. Liseli was excited for this job; she had fought witches before, but had never killed any. Usually vampires tried not to kill witches because there were so few of them that the death of any one would lead to retaliation from the other lines. This situation was an exception, the witches must be killed, swiftly and thoroughly. Liseli had been given a magical knife, similar to the one that Aubrey carried, except that this one had been forged with dark magic, thus preventing any witch from using it against Liseli. If a witch were to attempt to alter the magic within the knife, it would taint their magic with darkness, thus lessening the effect that their magic would have against any vampire.

Liseli shouldered her bag; she would be living in the apartment of a weak vampire who lived in Rowenoak. Checking her reflection in the mirror, Liseli vanished from the room with the smallest of *pops*.

~*~

Perhaps it was due to her tattoo of devil horns on the upper left arm; or maybe it was her tattoo of a black rose whose stem encircled her entire right arm; or it could have been her outfit, tight black pants with a black metallic tanktop. Whatever the reason, Liseli was attracting the stares of several students as she sat in the back of the classroom ignoring the teacher.

Liseli was busy testing the auras of the teenagers in the room, checking them for something. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking for, but she was checking all the auras for something unique. She had found nothing so far.

A bell rang and everyone around her stood up and began to leave. Somewhere in Liseli's memory of being a human she recalled that it must be lunchtime. Walking outside into the bright May sunshine Liseli put on her sunglasses to protect her eyes from the light. Liseli had not bothered to conceal the color, or lack thereof, of her eyes. She had noticed that a few people appeared to be wearing black contact lenses, she would let people think what they want of her.

Liseli sat under a sprawling oak tree watching the students go by. She did not eat anything; not that Liseli didn't find the students here appetizing, but she assumed that drinking the blood of one of them would have raised some serious suspicion. A girl sat down on the side of Liseli and took a peanut butter and jelly sandwich out of a brown paper bag.

"Hi, my name's Mary," the girl said.

Liseli nodded in Mary's direction.

"You're new here right? I don't think I've even seen you before," Mary said, "Would you like some of my sandwich?"

"No, that's okay," Liseli responded. Liseli had only been changed 25 years before and was still young enough to treat humans nicely. She always bore in mind that they were prey, but she could be nice enough to them, when she wasn't trying to kill them, that is.

Mary looked like a sweet, innocent, teenager, the same kind Liseli used to be. Mary was wearing a purple sundress that complemented nicely her brown hair, which was pulled back into a tight bun.

"So, umm, what's your name?" Mary asked.

"Liseli," Liseli replied. She was not using a fake name because she wanted any witches around the neighborhood to know that the vampires were watching them.

"Interesting, what is it? Celtic?"

"I really don't know, the person who gave it to me is weird," Liseli said, thinking that if Mary ever met Risika, Mary would find her a lot more than just weird.

Mary laughed. "I imagine your mom is pretty cool."

"Why's that?"

"Well, there's the name, and the tattoo," Mary said.

"Actually, it's tattoos, plural," Liseli said.

"Oh, I only saw the rose. Where are the other two?" Mary asked. For all that Mary looked like a prude she had quite a curious streak in her.

Liseli twisted so that Mary could see the devil horns on her other arm and then lifted her hair so that Mary could see the Chinese character on her back.

"Oh, what's that one on your back?"

"It's Chinese."

"Does it mean anything?"

"Damned one," Liseli said, a faint smile playing on her lips as she waited for Mary's response.

"Really?" Mary said, raising her eyebrows, "Are you a Satanist?"

"No, not really," Liseli said.

"Why do you have a tattoo saying 'damned one' on your back then," Mary said, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"Hi girls, can I have a seat? My name's Taylor" someone asked, dropping a bookbag onto the ground.

Liseli looked up, squinting in the sun. The person who had asked, Taylor, was a fairly attractive young man, with blond hair and a very nice tan.

Taylor sat next to Liseli and leaned over to whisper something to her.

"I don't know what you're playing at, vamp, but once I find out, you're trash," Taylor said, nearly hissing.

Liseli rubbed her chin thoughtfully, pondering over who Taylor was. He was a witch, that much was painfully obviously, both from his comment and his aura, which revealed him to be of the Smoke line, though a relatively new initiate, less than 5 years old.

Suddenly she remembered. Taylor had tried to attack her the previous year in Boston while she had been feeding. The fight was pathetic; Liseli had escaped having drank not only human blood, but a fair amount of witch blood as well, and Taylor had been left in a ditch, having passed out from blood loss.

"So, Taylor," Mary said, "What brings you over here?"

"Oh nothing special," he replied, grinning broadly. "What's your name?"

"I'm Mary and that's Liseli," Mary responded.

"Liseli, that's a rather exotic name," Taylor said. "What's your last name?"

Taylor was obviously trying to find out more about Liseli; usually the line from which a vampire came from revealed their strengths and weaknesses. There were too many vampires for a witch to keep track of them all, and Taylor had probably forgotten which line Liseli had come from, if he had even known at all.

"Silver, my full name is Liseli Silver," Liseli said. She said this proudly; the Silver line was the strongest in all the world possessing very few weaknesses.

"Say Liseli, why don't you take off your sunglasses? There should be enough shade here for any living being," Taylor said, reaching over and whipping off Liseli's glasses.

Liseli cried out as the sunlight hit her tender eyes. That was it; no one hurt a Silver vampire and lived to tell the tale.

~*~

A/N: This continuation of the first chapter was not planned when I first wrote Risika's Fledgling, but I got a lot of feedback saying that they liked Liseli (who, by the way, is not a Mary-Sue. I would never portray myself as a bloodthirsty dark creature!). Please review or e-mail me at SmallSarah@aol.com with comments, questions, or ideas. The plot for this series is not yet complete and I would be grateful for any suggestions or requests (hey, you might even get a cameo). -Serafina


	3. Bleeding

Ethan Frome

Liseli paced back and forth in her apartment. She had been seen a flyer for a club party floating around at school that day and she had seen Taylor speaking to some girls about going to it.

Taylor. His days were numbered. And that number was very very small.

She would go, if only to deal with that witch. Liseli walked over to the antique mahogany wardrobe. It dominated one of the walls in the small room she would call home until it was decided that she could go back to her normal solitary predatory existence.

She picked out some relatively somber clothing for the evening, nothing that would constrict her movement too much in a fight. Liseli donned a strappy purple tanktop and a pair of tight black shorts. She pinned up her hair in a messy bun so that the tattoo she had on her back would be easily visible. During the school day she had kept the knife in a holster on her leg, but for the party, and intended fight, it would have to be more accessible. She decided to wear it on her waist so that she could easily grab it.

Looking in the mirror, Liseli tried to apply some makeup so that she would blend into the crowd at the club, which would undoubtedly be decked out in glitter and sequins. She gave up quickly, however; her reflection in the mirror was too pale and misty to apply makeup. Before she stepped outside and went to the club, Liseli grew out her teeth and run her tongue over them before she bit down and tasted the blood flowing into her mouth, exciting her senses and heightening her desire to deal with that witch, Taylor.

Liseli liked getting ready for fights.

~*~

The club was like all other human clubs were; loud, flashy, and hot. Liseli much preferred vampire clubs, which tended to be darker, if lit at all, and less crowded, at least around the more powerful vampires such as Liseli; no one wanted to be too close to them if they got angry, which happened quite frequently.

"Liseli, hi!" Mary said, running up to Liseli as she entered the room. "I wasn't sure if you were coming. You never told me if you would be."

"Oh, well, I'm here," Liseli said, frowning. She didn't want the fight with Taylor to attract too much attention; she had been hoping to just pull him away in a corner and kill him quietly, but with Mary tagging along that would be nearly impossible.

"Cool, do you like to dance?" Mary said, dragging Liseli onto the floor.

"Not really, Mary. How about we get something to drink?" Liseli said, dragging Mary off of the floor. Liseli actually liked dancing, but the music she preferred usually was heavy metal, none of the happy pop music that was blaring out in the club.

"Drink?" Mary said. "I dunno; I might get drunk."

"So?" Liseli responded, pulling Mary to the bar.

"What can I get you two ladies?" the bartender asked, pulling out two clean glasses.

"I'll just have a cola, please," Mary said timidly.

"Everclear," Liseli said, pointing to the bottle that was labeled 200 proof.

The bartender raised his eyebrows. "You sure can handle that, lady? It's mighty strong."

"So?" Liseli said impatiently. "I think I'll be fine."

The bartender poured her a shot of the Everclear, which Liseli downed in one gulp. The bartender shrugged his shoulders and walked off, muttering something about crazy teens.

"Wow," Mary said, "Do you drink a lot?"

"Not really, I just have a naturally high tolerance level," Liseli said, absentmindedly fingering the knife she wore on her waist. She could feel the magic present in its blade; it nearly felt alive.

Liseli and Mary stood by the bar, trying to talk over the blaring music. Liseli was keeping an eye on the door, waiting for Taylor to arrive. Finally he did, and he made his way straight over to Liseli and Mary.

"Liseli," Taylor said, staring at her face but avoiding looking directly into her eyes.

"Taylor," Liseli said, putting her hand very obviously onto the knife at her waist.

"Mary, maybe you ought to go away for a bit, Liseli and I need to talk privately about something," Taylor said, looking pleadingly at Mary, who rolled her eyes and went to chat with some of her other friends.

"So, Taylor, are you going to tell me what the fuck you are up to in Rowenoak?" Liseli said, "or am I going to have to hurt you."

"I should be saying the same thing, Liseli," Taylor said, taking a step forward so that they were nearly nose to nose.

Liseli stuck out her hand, grabbing Taylor's throat and shoving him against the wall loud enough for an *thunck* to be heard.

"You first," Liseli said, pulling out the knife and putting the flat of the blade against Taylor's elbow.

Taylor struggled to remain calm while being held at knifepoint by a powerful vampire. He failed.

"Initiates," Taylor said quietly, "I'm here to bring people we've identified as good candidates back to Dominique."

"Dominique?" Liseli said, "but she's a Vida; you're a Smoke."

"I can't tell…" Taylor was cut off as Liseli pressed the knife against his skin, raising a thin line of blood on his pale arm. "Fine, fine, the Smoke and the Vida line are combining. Both the healers and the killers; more powerful that way."

"But no sign of that has showed up in the auras of new witches," Liseli said, not letting up on the pressure she had against the knife.

"No one," Taylor gasped for air and Liseli loosened her grip to let him breathe, "no one knows why, but the new witches can hunt vampires almost as well as the original Vida's can."

"I think you're lying to me, Taylor," Liseli said. "Why have only the Smoke witches appeared to be involved with this, this conversion."

"It is. Almost any Smoke can do it, but of the Vida line, only Dominique can do it."

"Do what?"

"I don't know," Taylor said, a hint of pleading sneaking into his voice, "I'm a mixed line; no one told me what they did to me."

Liseli let go of Taylor's neck and grabbed his face, forcing him to look into her eyes. He shuddered, but Liseli didn't let go. After a moment, Liseli began to speak very softly.

"Taylor, if you value your pathetic life you will listen to me. Okay?" Liseli said. "I am not going to kill you, as long as you keep giving me information, anything you know. If I find that you've told anyone about the arraignment, you will be killed. If I find that you are keeping something from me, you will be killed. Got it?"

Taylor nodded.

Liseli put her knife back into its holder. She held up Taylor's arm where he had been cut by the knife. The blood was flowing out of the cut and running down his arm, dripping on the floor. Liseli licked the blood off of his arm before blinking out and disappearing into the dark night.

~*~

A/N: I know that this chapter was very short, but I wanted it to highlight the "fight" scene between Taylor and Liseli. The next chapter will be delayed for a fair bit; I have tests in school as well as other stories going (note to authors: never try working on more than one series at once).

Thank you to all my reviewers: LittleGreenBear, Qaera (there were be at least one more scene in the high school, if you like her 'shadowing' you ought to like that scene), Kit, Julie, Izzy, Fenris (you're right; I might give you a cameo as a reward), AniBlaire (you don't sound condescending at all, and you didn't misspell it), ShadowPika, Melee (you want a cameo, let's see, I won't punch you, but I might kill your character), and Damien (good idea; I love it when my reviewers have better ideas than I do and see the comment I wrote to Fenris)

Don't you wish your name was on that list? Please review…I love comments…flames…suggestions (I got a few from my last chapter that were incorporated into this chapter)


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